John Gargano grew up Detroit, Michigan, graduated with Magna Cum Laude at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, and currently teaches at the University of Louisiana, in Lafayette, Louisiana. As an undergraduate, his goal was to vertically challenge himself and produce large scale works. He worked with a variety of different mediums including; photography, glass, and ceramics. He enjoyed searching for objects which were decayed, and that had an antique quality to them which he could then use as an inspiration to reproduce in clay. As a graduate student, he was not afraid of experimenting with color and interacting with brightness and fullness of forms. After graduate school, he moved away from working in a large scale format, and started to worked with more vibrant colors. He also took out a loan, so that he could afford to buy materials and a kiln. After that he took off a year from school, and his work thereafter moved away from the large scale format toward the inspiration of wall hung explosive devices. He also changed the titles of his future works, which gradually became more humorous with age such as; “Drop, Dead, Gorgeous, French Ticker, and Mind Your Own Business. His current works investigate the human form, military equipment, and steel.
